In The Study of Ælfroond
by Baralach
Summary: Loviisa stumbles across a hidden study in the ruins she and her team are excavating - in the forgotten chamber will she and Hal be able to prove that the ancient tales are true? Warning! So far LotR characters are only mentioned...
1. Findings

The Study of Ælfroond

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I do not own any of the places of characters from LotR... but do you even recognize any? (evil cackel) Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

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Chapter 1: Findings  
  
The young woman brushed dust off the lid of what appeared to be an ancient wooden chest. The once strong and polished wood had deteriorated, making the chest difficult to remove without causing damage or even destruction.

Deep in the ruins of what once had been a grand castle, Loviisa marvelled at the intricate patterns etched into the metal that bound the chest together – she traced a vine lightly with her fingertip. This was a marvellous find, most of the relics found in the hidden ruins were so badly aged that it was nearly impossible to see the beautiful designs on them. Pulling out her walkie-talkie, Loviisa Calinaclari Kielo pressed down on the button and took a deep breath.

"Professor Rempel, I found something. I think I'll need some help moving it."

**"Miss Kielo? Ah yes, I'll send a few people over to help... where are you?"**

Loviisa looked around her, "I went through a tunnel in the back of the fireplace in the hall of fire. It leads strait to where I am."

There was a pause, **"and where are you, exactly?"**

"I'm not sure," Loviisa held her lantern up higher so she could see more of the expansive vault around her. "Some sort of chamber – I've only just started looking around."

Again a pause, this time though, when the archaeologist's voice came back over the radio it was highly excited, **"Don't do anything else until I get there, this might be the mother load!"**

Loviisa grinned and held back a girlish squeal of delight, "where do you think I am?"

**"The old stories tell about a secret study that the magic lord of Karnigul kept all his spell and potion books in, as well as his history books. Ælfroond was supposedly the greatest of the historians and healers. I believe these ruins to be Karnigul – the home of the magician Ælfroond, the second Master of the Air."**

The young archaeologist knelt, stunned, in the dust of the chamber, barely registering the presence of another team of students as they entered through the tunnel.

_Surely it couldn't be true? Ælfroond, lord of the hidden realm of Karnigul, master of the air, magician, healer, historian... this was his personal, secret study?_

The others had started setting up tower lamps and, after a warning was called to cover their eyes, a switch was flicked and light flooded the enormous chamber.

Loviisa, who hadn't paid heed to warning, was blinded for a moment, then, once her eyes adjusted to the light, uncovered her eyes and gazed around her.

The high walls were covered with book shelves, the floors with carpets at various stages of decomposition. There were several small tables with what once might have been comfy chairs littered around the room, and at the far end near a large set of boarded up windows was a large, ornately carved desk.

Indeed, it was a study.

In a daze, the archaeology students wandered around the room, looking at the ancient books on the shelves, the dim, faded paintings and tapestries on the walls, and the elegant tables, chairs, and couches.

But Loviisa, she was drawn towards the desk.

At first glance all one noticed was that it was beautifully made, patterns of leafy vines twisted around it, and a bright star was carved into the centre.

On second glance she noticed that there were moulty feather quills, bits of crumbling parchment and bottles of long-ago dried up ink on the desk.

It took her at least until her eighth or ninth glance that she realized that the desk, unlike everything else in this treasure trove of artefacts, was completely untouched by the countless millennia it had sat unused. The wood gleamed like it had been recently been polished, and there wasn't even a trace of dust upon it.

_This must be made with magic;_ Loviisa marvelled at the sheer impossibility of her thoughts.

_This must prove that the ancient lords were sorcerers. Or,_ she thought_, at least this Ælfroond was._

One of her fellow students, Hal, came up and stood beside her.

"Amazing! This place has to prove that the old myths are true – that there really were _Haltija_! Can you imagine? Magic? Amazing!"

Loviisa smiled at her companion, "You've believed in the _Haltijatar_ since you first heard the myths. You're granny was so taken with the old tales and she passed that down... why else would your mother have named you Ælfhald?"

The young man grinned.

"How did you find this place, Lov?"

"There was a strange pattern to the stones around the hearth – I merely touched a star-shaped rock and this passage opened. Lucky break, eh?"

Hal snorted, "lucky, indeed! You must be the luckiest person I've ever met! This has to be the biggest find since old Stephenson discovered the catacombs underneath _Valkolinnake_ – the sarcophagi of the ancient kings of _Vanhamaa_. You'll be in the history books for this, Lov."

Loviisa smiled, her exhilaration causing her too let out a 'whoop!' of excitement.

"Sweet Eru," a voice exclaimed from the entrance.

All turned to see the short professor Rempel gaping in amazement.

"I've seen this room before!"

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Ba-dum dum dum............... oooh, this looks interesting, eh? 


	2. A Family Tree

Chapter 2: Findings

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same as last chapter, I don't own LotR... this time you might recognize it, though

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_Melui linna i gwaew  
Am îr uîdh aearon  
Talt erin falas_

_Melui linna i gwaew  
Am i alfirin talf nán  
I calen thar rïnc_

_Melui linna i gwaew  
Am i orodrim din  
Glamour loda dad_

_Melui linna i gwaew  
Taur mi i menel öh beleg  
Ennor lend glîr_

Loviisa smiled as she read the beautiful, ancient haltijan words on the bleached, stiff pages. Slowly, digging back into the dusty pages of her memory to her grandmother's lessons in the haltijan tongue, Loviisa translated the poem.

_Sweetly sings the wind... over the resting, no, restless ocean... crash, crashing on the shore. Sweetly sings the wind, over the bound... the boundless grassland, oh! the boundless prairie... the green grass moves...sways. Sweetly sings the wind, over the mountainous-tops? Over the mountain passes, echoes drifting down. Sweetly sings the wind, high in the skies so mighty, middle-earth's ...no, nature's harmony._

Oh, she thought, that's a beautiful old song...

_Sweetly sings the wind  
over the restless ocean  
crashing on the shore _

_Sweetly sings the wind  
over the boundless prairie  
the green grass sways _

_Sweetly sings the wind  
over the mountain passes  
echoes drifting down _

_Sweetly sings the wind  
high in the skies so mighty  
nature's harmony_

Loviisa didn't even notice herself singing the song until Rempel, busy scrounging through books o see where he knew the library room from, shouted at her to quit singing.

"I swear, you're more annoying than a Hedwig! You're eating out my brains with that ghastly, haunting song," the frustrated professor cried.

Hal, who was sitting next to her, grinned and comforted his fellow archaeologist with the words, "don't worry, I still think you could win Valkolinnake Idol. Lathron(!) wouldn't ever fault your singing."

Both laughed and bent again over the manuscripts they were painstakingly translating, trying to find clues as to what this place was, who lived here, where they went, and what they really were. Rempel was so sure that this place was made by the haltija that all he searched the books for were spells and potions.

Loviisa had, in her section of the expansive library, found only books and scrolls containing old songs, poems, and ballads about long forgotten heroes and kingdoms.

It was interesting, but there were no facts or clues that they could really use as proof of the haltija's existence.

Hal was having a little better luck, he had come across books filled with geography, maps and drawings of cities, palaces, with little write ups of politics in these places, their rulers' names and royal lines. Nearly every page he turned had something that made him 'ooh' with excitement and take several pictures of the pages.

After several days of searching, finally Loviisa hit pay dirt –again.

The large book with golden embossing on the leather cover had drawn her hand to it and she felt compelled to pull it off the shelf, with some difficulty as it was quite heavy, and crack the cover open.

On the first page was a still brightly coloured drawing of two splendid trees, a sky full of silver stars, and three bright gems. This was an image often depicted in ancient haltijan works, so the image itself had no importance to her, but the fact that the pages looked as though they had been printed just the day before made Loviisa's adrenaline run.

Turning the pages, she came across a dialect of haltijan that she had never seen before.

It went on for most of the book, until near to the end where it slowly switched from this dialect into common haltjan.

From the pages at the end and the form of the front pages, she deemed that this was a huge book filled with family trees and the histories of persons in these families.

One such page caught her eye and made her shout in exhilaration.

"I found it! I found Ælfroond!"

Everyone in the make-shift camp ran quickly to her side as she pointed out the names on the pages.

"Look here, see – _Eärendil, son of Tuor and Idril, married Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Beren and Luthien, and Nimloth. Together they bore two sons, Elros and Elrond Perhedil. Elwing bore the Silmaril. Eärendil built a ship and sailed to_... Valinor? He sailed there to deliver the message of the elves – the Haltija! – to the Valar. _Elwing flew to him when the sons of Fëanor attacked; Elros and Elrond were taken captive, but were later released by Maglor. They were given the same choice as their parents – to choose a life of immortality or that of men. Elros chose to be among the mortals and was given a kingdom, Numenor, to rule over. Elrond chose to be among the elves, and went to Lindon to live with the high King Gil-Galad. When Eriador was attacked, Gil-Galad sent him to Eregion to help. When that land was defeated, Elrond retreated into a deep valley and founded Rivendell. Rivendell, also named Imladris and Karnigul_ – hah! This is it, we're in Karnigul! – _was mainly populated by the Norldor, though many Silvan elves also dwelt there, too."_

Loviisa paused for a breath, "and in a different hand – a new writer I assume – it says that Elrond bore '_Vilya_', the ring of air, after the death of Gil-Galad in a battle called '_the Last Alliance of Middle Earth_.' It also says that he bore this ring up to and after the final War of the Ring and in the fourth age he sailed to Valinor with the other ring-bearers.

"But I cannot find anything here about what the War of the Ring was, or where Valinor is. There are more notes here, but they are in another language that I don't understand."

Loviisa ruffled through the pages, trying to find more common haltijan, but was unable to find more.

Everyone in the room, despite their excitement and desire to bring out the champagne, held their breath and remained stalk still as Rempel took the book out of Loviisa's hands and examined the strange dialect.

"It is very strange, yet it is familiar to me... I can just barely make out some of the words. This book is mainly written in an old form of haltijan, called the high tongue, or Quenya. It is the language of the Noldor – the high elves – but was banned for some reason by an ancient king of the grey elves."

With a smile, Rempel closed the book with a thud and set it carefully down on the table. Collecting himself, he looked around the crowded tent and addressed the mass of students around him.

"It's party time!"

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(!) - Lathron is the Sindarin equivalent of Simon...as in Simon Howel.  
(Laughes kind patheticly and cornily slaps knee) ah yes, ha ha, Minas Tirith Idol... tee hee.... oh, didn't you figgure that one out yet? Yep, Valkolinnake is Minas Tirith and Vanhamaa is Gondor. :) yay! You gotta love Finnish.


End file.
